Reflecting On Davos: A Tale Of Two (Or More) Acronyms

Freshly returned from the World Economic Forum's annual meeting (and a quick round of engagements across Europe), I can attest that Davos is back to its pre-pandemic bustle—the high-profile attendees, the engaging conversations, the queues for security... Amid all the talk about soft landings, upcoming elections, and rising geopolitical tensions, the focus (or lack thereof) on two topics really stood out to me:

• ESG: One thing that did not return is a discussion of ESG. The term "ESG" was not on the meeting agenda, and I did not hear the acronym mentioned once all week. This is a far cry from January 2020 when the theme was "Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World."The environment, social issues, or governance concerns were on the agenda, of course. On climate, we had extensive discussions on the green transition, the speed of technological innovation and adoption, and realistic paths to net zero goals. The appropriate governance protocols around